First Session Shabbat is in the Books
Hold on to your hats folks, this is a long one…I’m in a mood.
I can’t believe the last Shabbat of First Session is now in the books.
The campers got a full dose of Shabbat at camp. It was heavy dewing on Friday, so we had to modify the caravan and move services indoors, but it didn’t affect the spirits whatsoever. Everybody was as into it as into it can be. They were dressed in white, there were white kippot everywhere, and there were, in true Herzl fashion, a couple of Shabbat service moments that just choke you up. Those celebrations of being Jewish! There are moments of deep prayer (where campers watch their hero’s – counselors- and step into something that may be taught during the school year, but seeing your hero do it all of the sudden makes it cool!) mixed with moments of dancing, moving, and singing, it’s really something special.
Thankfully, especially for our Tasters who were only here for one Shabbat, we had a beautiful service at the Mercaz overlooking the lake this morning. As usual, there were a couple of locals who parked their boats just off our shore to fish. I noticed today that it was the same two boats that were there last week. I love that.
We stay pretty involved in the local community, which helps us as a camp, and I’ve had people come up to me at community events and say, “We love being on the lake when you’re all on that big platform. We love hearing the kids sing.” I think that’s awesome.
Having Barak here for the first part of the session has had an incredibly lasting effect. The Shira and Chinuch teams have embraced what he brought to camp and woven his songs throughout Shabbat. Whether it’s during services with different tunes or around lunch tables with kids spontaneously singing Jewish songs, you can feel it. Kids are singing Judaism. Kids are proud of being Jewish! Being Jewish is cool!
Speaking of being proud of who they are…
One thing I’ve really noticed, now that this is my third summer back after a 30-year hiatus, is the growth of kids. You notice it most during First Session because we have so many new campers. Aside from the Tasters, just under half of our campers are experiencing their very first Herzl summer.
You can see them arrive a little nervous, a little uncertain, maybe even a little timid. And then, by the end of the session, it’s incredible, that timidity is long gone! I noticed it all day today. These kids who may have been homesick or worried they wouldn’t make friends are now running around camp as if they’re in their own living room with their best friends and extended family.
We tell the Tasters on their very first day, when they come into the Ulam, that when they come back next year, the first thing we’ll say to them is, “Welcome home.”
Today at Shabbat lunch, I sat with a bunch of Tasters and asked them, “Do you remember what I said on the first day?”
They all yelled, “WELCOME HOME!”
I got a little misty. Your pal Tommy’s a sap.
The other thing that’s been striking me, and I’m going to borrow a page from Jonathan Haidt’s Anxious Generation, or as I like to call it…the modern parent handbook…is how much growth happens when kids have room to figure things out on their own.
Haidt talks about how increasing adult boundaries and oversight have often come at the expense of “free play”. (Do you put the period in the quote or after the quote? I can never remember that one …Anywho, one of his observations is that when you put kids together with an abundance of freedom and reasonable limits, they begin creating their own norms. They create their own rules. They figure out respect. They learn how to navigate relationships.
I’m the lucky one who gets to see that happen in real time.
Away from the structures of home, school, and activities, they get to define some of these things for themselves. They learn how to communicate in groups. They learn how to solve problems. They learn how to self-advocate. Instead of going to Mom or Dad because somebody got the bigger cookie or because something feels unfair, they learn to seek information, seek solutions, and speak up for themselves.
I know I’ve been pressing on this theme a lot during First Session, but today it really hit me. The growth is remarkable.
Their independence shines and their confidence is abundant. Their ability to figure things out for themselves is blossoming.
One of the beautiful tensions of overnight camp is that, for a little while, your kids get to belong fully to this place and fully to themselves. They get the chance to make decisions without immediately checking in, solve problems without someone stepping in first, and discover that they’re capable of more than they realized.
As adults (sometimes I qualify as one), that’s not always easy. We miss them. We wonder what they’re doing. We wish we could peek in on every moment. But some of the magic of camp happens precisely because we can’t.
What I can tell you is this, your kids are busy being kids. They are making friends, singing loudly, laughing hard, figuring things out, and growing in ways that are sometimes hard to see day by day but become glaringly evident by the end of the session.
When your campers come home on Monday, I hope you see it too. I hope you see the confidence, the friendships, the self-advocacy, and the independence that have emerged over these past weeks.
The greatest souvenir your child is bringing home from camp isn’t tucked into a duffel bag. It’s the gift of independence that you gave them by letting them go.
To wrap this up…Havdallah tonight, out in the sports field, was a giant circle or, shall I say, a full group hug of love and pride in being Jewish and here AT HOME!
That’s what I got folks…
But for now, thank you for sending your kid to Herzl Camp.
All is well. Safely rest.
לילה טוב,
Tommy